All news seems pointed toward the trade deadline that was—but it was more inaction than action—yet there was still basketball that was played, so we’ll have to take on the former as well as the latter…
The Lakers Got a lot Better. The Lakers may have dealt Derek Fisher for a person that I honestly had to look up, Jordan Hill (frontcourt depth), but they most certainly landed one of the better deals shortly thereafter with their stealing of Ramon Sessions from the Cavs.
The best thing about the Sessions deal is that they only gave up Luke Walton and a 2012 first rounder. (They also handed the Rockets a 2012 first rounder as well; who knew they even had two first rounders at their disposal this recently passed trading season?)
Furthermore, the Lake Show got Christian Eyenga (more depth) and the rights to a 2013 pick, whatever that means.
Now to see what the new Lakers look like…
Are you impressed: Because you should be. In LAL’s finishing of a season sweep of the T-Wolves last night, they showed the world what this team can do now that they’ve upgraded. NBA you’ve been warned.
And the schedule for the Lakers comes bearing gifts, too. Utah at home on Sunday, road contests in Texas on Tuesday and Wednesday with Houston—imagine that—and Dallas, then Portland in LA on Friday—this looks like 3-1 (maybe even 4 straight W’s), so it should be a good week.
The Bucks Were Good—Now They’re Scary. Okay, maybe scary sounds a bit strong, but stay with me, for I always explain myself—no matter how crazy I can sound.
The trade of the season came down the wire while I was reading yet another hypothetical about either Dwight Howard or Pau Gasol being traded. Like I said: This deadline was more of inaction.
The Golden State Warriors traded Monta Ellis, Ekpe Udoh and Kwame Brown to the Milwaukee Bucks for Stephen Jackson and Andrew Bogut. Wow; that’s going to shake things up a little bit.
[caption id="attachment_840" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Photo Credit: Rocky Widner/NBAE via Getty Images"]
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Think about it: The backcourt of Brandon Jennings and Monte Ellis to go along with the bigs of Drew Gooden and Ersan Ilyasova, with Mike Dunleavy, Luc Mbah a Moute and Beno Udrih coming off the bench. Plus, Scott Skiles at the helm makes me think these guys could win a playoff series, granted they don’t draw the Bulls or Heat.
The Puzzlers. Each time you look over deadline deals, there are a few noodle scratchers. Here are a few…
As if the Warriors’ deal shipping Ellis out of town couldn’t get any weirder, it did, for Stephen Jackson wasn’t a member of Golden State’s roster for very long. The Spurs sent not just Richard Jefferson to the other city by the bay; they also sent a conditional first round selection. Huh?
The Warriors come out smelling like a rose, sort of, with their pulling a fast one on San Antonio. Maybe this will help my deepest and darkest dream come true: The elimination of the Spurs from relevance. One can only dream, but if last night was any indication, with their defeat of the Thunder in their building, SAS aren’t going anywhere—much to my chagrin.
The other thing worth mentioning was the Trailblazers’ fire sale. They gave away Marcus Camby and then Gerald Wallace for pieces that’ll be nothing but projects, maybe even headaches. The deals did work for the Nets and Rockets, however, for they got legitimate pieces to add to their developing teams.
And There Was Basketball…The Lakers are in the middle of a 5-game winning streak, and they’ve won 8-of-their-last-10 ballgames. And the road woes didn’t even rear their ugly head, because the Lake Show put up back-to-back overtime victories on the road. Maybe they’ve figured the whole away from home thing out; let’s hope so.
On the numbers front, Kobe Bryant made history last Friday as he became the youngest player to reach 29,000 points at 33 years, 3 months. Cool.
And the Bulls beat the Heat—yes!—even though they didn’t have Derrick Rose AND both Dwyane Wade and LeBron James went north of 30 points. I love it when a team beats a team of two, occasionally three, but more often than not, two.
TV Time. If you’re not too busy watching college for some reason (like you’re bracket’s busted or you’re a Duke fan) than the NBA has some basketball options for you.
Tonight NBATV has a battle amongst two of Texas’ finest with SAS/DAL; that should be good. Sunday has another intrastate battle with ORL/MIA on ESPN followed by POR/OKC. Monday’s got a mouthwatering rubber match between CHI/ORL on TNT and then DAL/DEN; why not stay up for that one. Indeed. Then, for NBATV’s fan night, they’re giving us PHX/MIA.
This is can’t miss stuff, so I’ll send you out with something happy…
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